There are three lessons for us here. First, what is safe for you may not be safe for me. Second, we can't decide everything with just our minds. God gave us hearts to use too. Third, God wants more from us than just a token sacrifice.
The newly baptized is marked with the sign of the Cross, addressed by name, and told, "You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever." This anointing recalls how kings were made in the Old Testament, only now this happens to all God's people.
The question could well be asked of ourselves – what kind of a spirit do we have? What follows the "of" in our lives? Do we have a spirit of fear, or a spirit of faith? A spirit of hate or a spirit of love? A spirit of greed or a spirit of generosity? You can see how important what word follows that little word "of".
In Clarence Jordan's Cotton Patch Version of Paul's Epistles, the parallel is First Atlanta, and the subject is not about what food Christians may or may not eat but rather whether it is permissible for Christians to work on Sunday, an issue in 1968 when the Cotton Patch version was published, but now, not quite 40 years later, one we rarely hear discussed.
When I look at the newspaper headlines, I see problems so large that I am overwhelmed. I would like to help, but what can one man do? What can this congregation do? What can the whole church do? Isaiah felt much the same way.
The Stoics of antiquity said: Be calm. Disengage yourself. Neither laugh nor weep. Jesus says: "Be open to the wounds of the world. Mourn humanity’s mourning, weep over humanity’s wounds, be in agony over humanity’s agony. But do so in the good cheer that a day of peace is coming."
Where is God in this world? That's where he is. Extraordinary spirit in an ordinary place. And it really has the power to change things, to change us. So that's where God is in this world - the extra-ordinary spirit of Jesus still present and powerful in very ordinary places.
Give your life to Christ. Admit that you are a sinner who needs forgiveness and ask Jesus to pardon you. Maybe you have been a Christian all your life and don't know if you have ever given your life to Christ. Then do it today and be sure. Then you can declare with joy "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!"
One week a year God is supposed to get a fighting chance for our attention. Because that is what the old story is all about – God. Not whether he exists. Everybody in town on that Palm Sunday knew he existed. About that there was no question. Atheism is rather new to the human scene. It might stem from an adolescent difficulty with authority, that some people never get over.
Funeral Homily Four Necessary Tasks A funeral homily for a man who died suddenly and tragically Four Necessary Tasks Ecclesiastes 8:1ff; Romans 8:28ff By Pastor Steven Molin Dear friends in Christ, grace, mercy and peace, from God our Father, and His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Susan, John, Bob; on behalf [...]